I just went for a brief holiday with my wife, Helen, and her workers were very kind to arrange for us some special offer, some special cheap rate, and this is a thing too good to miss, you have to go there. And so we went off for the last week to a place north of Cairns called Port Douglas, and I love to swim, and even in my own present condition, I still can stay in the water longer than most people and still can manage to out-swim most people. That's about the last sport left with me. All the others are more or less gone now, but swimming, I still think there are very few who can keep up with me, either in distance or speed up to this time.
However, going up to Port Douglas proved that it wasn't quite possible to swim in the sea because at this time of year we are told there are stingers, which are said to be very deadly, some kind of box jellyfish, and you're actually not allowed to go into the water. Apart from just enclosed areas, and the enclosed areas are so small, at least for me it's not even worth bothering to go into the water, because if I like to go, I like to go a few kilometers out, but there within those few yards I don't know what to do with myself. So I'm just like a goldfish going around in a circle. And the motel had a swimming pool that was also about the size of a goldfish bowl, and I thought, well, what can I do with this?
So I don't quite know where to get any swimming done, since that's about the only exercise I have left. And then we thought, well, it looks like it, that's the end of it, no swimming to be done. And we decided that we will just go look around the place a bit. And north of Douglas there's a place called Mossman.
I don't know if you've never heard of it, but you may have. And up from Mossman there's something called Mossman Gorge. So we decided to go up to have a look in the gorge. And to my delight I discovered that there are some pools in the gorge that you can swim in.
I thought, wonderful. And although it looked pretty small to me, but at least a little bit bigger than the swimming pool that we have in the hotel. And not much smaller than the enclosed areas on the beach. So we walked in the rainforest.
It's up in the rainforest. The gorge is, of course, kind of a narrow place where the water rushes through. And it comes down like small waterfalls. And then you have a pool.
And then it goes down and waterfalls. And then another little pool down below. And we walked in the forest for a while. And I was dripping wet from the heat.
I don't take heat very well. And my shirt was soaking wet. I was pouring sweat. No matter how lovely to dive into this water, you see.
So in I went and enjoyed the swim very much. I must have looked ridiculous because I put on my snorkeling goggles. Because I wanted to see what's inside the water there. And also, of course, I wanted to see the rocks.
Because in a shallow pool, you can easily kick a rock and break your leg. There were a few other people swimming. And they looked at me. And there I was with my snorkel gear.
Swimming in there. And much to my delight, I saw there were some nice fish in there. And I thought, oh, these will make a delicious supper. But apparently you're not allowed to fish in there.
So I swam for some time, maybe less than an hour. And it was very refreshing. The water was very cold in the water. And I got in there.
It almost paralyzed my leg muscles. I had to massage my leg muscles back into some kind of circulation. And then continue to swim. After a while, you get used to the cold.
And it's very nice. So I enjoyed that swim. And we went back to the hotel. And then I thought, well, since nowhere else to swim, how about I go back there again to swim?
So two days later, I went back to swim there again. It was not far from the hotel. Only 25 kilometers or so. This time we went there.
It was drizzling. There was rain coming down. And then as I went in to swim, there was a tremendous downpour of rain. Now, as I told you, it's a gorge.
And that means that the water is already running pretty fast through the gorge. And it comes into the pool. And the water is rushing past the pool. And then it goes down another section of the gorge, like a waterfall.
I had swum the first time, so I had familiarized myself with the currents in the pool. In the pool, there were lots of strong currents. And if you're not careful, you get washed down and crushed down on the rocks below. And there was a sign, a big sign, effectively there were two or three of them, which said, this place is dangerous and people have been killed here.
But you're allowed to swim if you want to swim. But it says, people have been killed here. There's a big notice there. So I thought, well, okay, we'll be a little cautious.
And there were some other people swimming around. And I watched the currents. You can see the currents, of course, on the surface. But once you go in, you can feel the pool of the water.
So while I was swimming there, I avoided the current because around the edge, I could see there was a very fast current moving around that side of the pool. And I stayed away from that. I stayed in the inner part. And then the rain came down.
It was a huge shower. It was pouring quickly. And, of course, you know what that does in the gorge. That means that the speed of the water suddenly increases within moments, within five minutes.
I think you've seen in a shower what happens that suddenly the gutters are filled with water. Well, it came so fast that the current caught me. And suddenly I felt that with all my strength I couldn't fight the current anymore. It was dragging me, rushing down towards the fall down below there.
And it's quite a feeling when at full strength you find yourself going backwards, such as the power of the current. And in that moment I thought, ah, so once more my life is coming to an end. At least it's threatening to come to an end. I tried to grab the rock, but it was no use because the rocks are all boulders, round ones.
There's nothing to hold on to. I tried to swim sideways to get behind the boulder, but that's no use because you know what happens. The water rushes around the boulder and the current is even stronger behind the rock. So I had a quick glance and I could see I was being carried.
And no force, no strength was going to fight this current because all of a sudden, all the rainwater added to the current was now making the force so great within a few moments that I was being swiftly carried back down the rocks. I took one look behind and I could see it was going all the way down. I was going to get bang, bang, bang, bang all the way down. And then, well, I don't know what's left of me at the bottom of this.
So, at that moment I realized that something had to be done. And I had to really look to the Lord for mercy now. No crawl, no powerful strokes was going to get me out of this. The only thing I could do at that moment was to try to go sideways before I got rushed down over the edge.
Well, somehow by the Lord's mercy I got sideways and suddenly I was out of the pool. The water went rushing past and I just managed to get to the side in the fraction of time. I think given another second, perhaps maybe a second or not more than that, I would have gone over the rocks and down. And it would have been that notice where she said, people have been killed here.
A few more strokes marked up at how many people got killed. That would have been another statistic on that board. I could then understand why people would get killed. It was very, very dangerous.
So, if that had happened, I wouldn't be here today to share this message with you. But, I find that over the past year, I've barely managed to escape death twice by the mercy of God, just a year ago. Just a year ago, I nearly got killed in a car accident when I was driving from Toronto to Montreal. I went to visit our Montreal churches and they drove there and it was still deep winter in Canada.
I don't know if any of you know what Canada is like in winter. 冰天雪地 You know, it's ice sky Snow earth. Canada is awesome in winter. Everything is white.
And, of course, driving on Canadian roads is something else. You have to experience that. Even the most experienced drivers get very nervous when it starts snowing because your tires have trouble gripping the road. And we use what is called snow radials.
The tire is specially designed to grip the snow. But, don't bank on it. It will slide in the snow as well. Now, I was driving on all-season radials, which are not snow radials.
All-season means that it's designed to cope through all four seasons. But, of course, the grip on the snow and ice is not as good as snow radials. But, some of us got tired of forever changing tires. Every six months, you've got to change from summer tires to winter tires to summer tires.
And, finally, I said, forget it. I'm just going to go with all-season radials. That's the lazy way to do it. But, you just miss that little bit of extra grip on the snow and ice, which can make all the difference.
Anyway, I went off to Toronto to visit the churches there. And, after a weekend, which is all the time I had to spend there, I was feeling quite, well, a little bit tired, but not too bad. But, I had to get back to Montreal. And, so, on Tuesday, I allowed one day rest.
On Monday, Tuesday, I headed back from Montreal. And, I was still feeling quite fine until I had driven out of Montreal. Now, Montreal to Toronto is a drive of over 300 miles, 500 kilometers. So, I was driving out along the way.
And, I had tried to just beat the rush hour traffic and get out of the city quickly. And, then, when I had gotten some distance out of the city, I suddenly felt very tired. And, I thought, oh, maybe I shouldn't have left Toronto to rest for another day or two. But, anyway, I kept going.
And, I thought, being a relatively experienced driver, I have to take all the precautions necessary. I stopped at every rest station along the highway. There are many rest stations all the way along this long highway. And, I stopped everywhere, walked around, took some deep breaths, drank some things.
And, I thought, this is the way I'm going to survive this journey. So, I went along. And, at one point, I stopped for one and a half hours at the shopping center. I actually got off the highway, walked around the shopping center in order to waken myself up fully.
And, then, went on driving again. And, probably midway between the two cities is a city called Kingston. And, when you reach Kingston, you know that you are halfway home. So, I passed Kingston.
And, I thought, well, we've got another, maybe just about two hours to go. Maybe less than two hours left to go. Driving along. And, then, suddenly it happened.
I blanked out. Just two times. Just in one second, it was gone. Now, everybody knows that you fall asleep on a highway with a car moving at over 100 kilometers an hour.
It's a deadly thing. For that to happen, even you fall asleep for just one second, the car hears off the road. And, of course, the highway is constructed such that it is banked. It's a bank that goes down on both sides.
It's a highway in which one side goes this direction and then there is a kind of a ditch in between, sometimes quite deep in some sections. And, one direction goes east and one direction goes west. So, of course, I was on the eastbound highway. And, in that moment, I felt afraid.
The car moving at this enormous speed went right off the road. And, suddenly, I felt a tremendous bang, of course, which woke me up. And, I looked up. It was quite a unique experience.
And, I saw snow and ice going past me like this. Here was going at tremendous speed. And, here, on both sides was snow and ice banks. Everything was white and flying past.
And, I looked up and I saw that was the highway I was on before. There was another highway going up there. And, I was between two highways. And, I could only assume that this was the highway because if I went up this side, if I went on the wrong, go up on the wrong side, I would go into a head-on crash with oncoming cars.
So, I assumed that this must be the... All this had to go within the split-second decisions because it was going very fast in the snow. And, I realized, too, that you can't stop and step on the brakes on snow and ice, you know. Nothing happens.
The car doesn't respond to the brakes, you see. And, also, I realized that if I stopped, I would lose the momentum to get up the bank again. So, the risk, of course, was that because the bank is quite steep, the car could turn over while you're going up. And, the wonder is, it didn't turn over when coming down because quite a number of cars had to do turn over in these ditches.
In fact, later on, as I went on, I saw a truck that had turned over in the ditch. In any case, in that split-second, I had to decide what I was going to do. So, I had to go back up again and figure out how to get up. I swung the car up, and, amazingly, it went up the embankment.
As I said to him, I could... The more I think about it, I can't understand how the car got up. Because, you see, snow and ice is very hard to get up. And, the tires cannot grip snow and ice very well at all.
So, what could have happened, even with the momentum, is the car would simply have slid sideways without getting up onto it. The amazing thing is the car got up onto the road, but with such a force of momentum that it shot over the road and went down the other side. I thought to myself, here, I am not on the other side. And, what is also remarkable is that I didn't hit anything.
One could easily have hit a stone pillar or hit a tree or something, but I didn't hit anything along the way. I went down, and then I had to try and swing it back up on the highway again, which I did, and somehow, amazingly, it got back up again, but the momentum shot it down across the other side. It went down back on the other side. It went down the ditch again.
I said, oh, no, how am I going to be able to stay on the road? This is the question. Because, you see, you can't come up sideways like this. You have to nose the car fairly straight up in order to be able to get up the embankment.
And, it's that force coming up on the highways on the two lanes. It's very easy to go down the other side again. So, down in the middle, and one more time, I had to look to the Lord, give me grace, to get up this thing one more time, and I hope I'm going in the right direction. And then I swung it up, and this time the car got back.
I managed to stabilize it on the highway, and I was now concerned that the car was a total wreck. You know, it might have banged onto, you know, all kinds of things. I don't know what happened underneath. I wondered whether the car was still able to go.
But, since it seemed to be quite stable, I kept going. And, you're not allowed to stop on the highway, of course. Since it could still run, I kept going. Amazingly, there were no cars at that time, except one further back.
And, he had seen me. And, I think he must have seen the shock of it going down and up and down. What's going on here? And, this person, very alert whoever it was, switched on the emergency flashes.
So, I could see in the mirror that his car was with all the emergency flashes on, and he had slowed down, because cars are traveling very fast along the highway, and could easily crash into the back of him. Any case, I kept moving, and then I noticed that this poor person went to the side. He must have been so shocked and tensed up that he couldn't drive, or she couldn't drive anymore. Went to the side of the road, and stopped there, with the flashes still on.
And, I just kept going to the next rest station. And, then I got out of the car, thinking, now I can see the whole car body is destroyed. I walked around the car, looking for signs of damage, and to my amazement, there wasn't a mark on the car anywhere. I said, how can this be?
The car suffered no damage at all. Well, that could have been another fatal accident. The Lord safeguarded me, and so allowed me to return home in one piece. I also like, particularly, tell, in this case, of my can of drink, because to me, it is the most astonishing item.
When I left Toronto, the co-workers there, given me some food to take along, always in their thoughtfulness and kindness, and given me a can of apple juice, which I put, there's an armrest here, and I put it on the other side of the armrest, in the corner of the peak there, just by the armrest, so that I could just pick it up and drink. That was part to keep me awake, you see. So, after I had recovered a bit from the shock of this whole incident, suddenly I thought, where is the can of apple juice? I thought, the car must be flooded with apple juice now.
I might be walking in apple juice down below there. And I couldn't see the can, and because it's dark, it was night time, of course, I couldn't see what the condition of the floor looked like. I wonder where the can has gone to. Now, there was a back cushion that sometimes I put for my back, but I didn't use it on this occasion, so there was a back cushion on the passenger seat, and I was looking around for the can.
Where has it gone to? And then finally, I somehow lifted up the back cushion. The can had traveled around the back cushion, and gone to the space between the seat and the door, and was resting on the armrest. No apple juice had even spilled out.
It was just standing there. I thought to myself, how is this possible? Because when the car goes down the slope, the apple juice would surely have fallen right onto the floor. How was it possible for it to travel around, come around and come to the door?
I still haven't figured out the mystery. Because the car went twice down in this position, as you can know. How was it possible that it remained there? I think that sometimes we see the kindness and the mercies of the Lord, particularly in these little, seemingly little incidents.
Very remarkable. So I stretched over there and got the can of apple juice back, and thanked the Lord and sipped the apple juice again, thanking Him for His amazing mercies. I don't think I'll ever be able to figure this one out, as to how it happened. How was this?
So sometimes it's not the big things that are most striking. It's how this little thing happened. I don't understand. Couldn't figure it out.
So, the kindness of the Lord. Walking with the Lord. We are weak. Sometimes in our labors we become very tired.
But for the Lord's protection, where would we be? Where would we be? And it's not merely the question of myself getting killed. Even worse, it's that I might end up killing others.
Because if the car had come up on the road, imagine it shot over twice. If another car had been coming at that time, or a group of cars, I would have smashed into a whole group of cars. What kind of fatalities that would have resulted in is mind-boggling to think of. Terrifying to think of.
But the Lord in His kindness safeguarded everything. And through these years of walking with the Lord, He knows how weak we are, how frail we are, and how He has watched over us. So, the recent experience nearly swept over the edge of the gorge. It added to this long list of experiences that I've had walking with the Lord through these years.
Well, we have about five minutes before you can walk out. Together with Brother Lu Ching here. So, after that I will keep talking. So, I have to reduce all I have to say in the remaining five minutes.
Sometimes, when I want to share about the goodness of God and all my experiences of Him, it's no wonder that Paul could talk all night. I'm sure he wasn't talking theory all night. The theory I leave for the training sessions. Those dear ones in training, they have to struggle with difficult subjects.
But in preaching, I just like to recount the things that the Lord has done. Any case, talking about all these things, I find also the Lord guides me in very little matters. Maybe they're not so little. For example, what books I read is also remarkable.
How the Lord guides me in these things. I look to the Lord for instruction. And, I go to very many places in the world and, amazingly, I find books in different places that I have never seen before. You would think that by the time you've gone to so many bookshops, you know every book in print.
You'd be surprised. You'll find books in one little bookshop in some unknown place that you'll never find, I've never found in any other place in the world. So, this time, up in Port Douglas, we went to a place called Smithfield. By the time we got there, this Smithfield shopping center was about to close.
We didn't realize it closes at 7.30. On a Thursday, we thought it opens to 9 o'clock. We got there and it's closing at 7.30. And by this time, we had just about 10 minutes to go before closing time.
And as soon as I got into the shopping center, I saw a bookstore that might be like. And out there was a tray of books at half price. So, immediately, I started scanning the half price books. And then, a book caught my attention.
I thought, I'm not reading this right. Did I see the thing right? It said there, an invitation to physical, to being physically immortal. Physically immortal?
In that case, if I had gone over the edge of this thing and been bashed down the rocks, it wouldn't have done me any harm, would it? I'd be physically immortal, I would have just stood up, dusted myself a bit and walked away. Rather like, what is it, Mickey Mouse or those cartoons, you know, they get flattened by some truck and then they just stand up, straighten out their necks and walk away. I thought, this is really physical immortality.
I looked at this title again, an invitation to be physically immortal. So what does he mean? Well, it's closing in 10 minutes. So, I hadn't got time to stand there and read the book, did I?
So at half price, I paid the $8 and bought the book, and I've been looking at it the last few days and it's really amazing, really amazing, that there are people who would believe such things. You must have either faith or sheer stupidity, I don't know which it is. because according to these three writers, their whole theory is based on this. We are now at Easter, so I think we are, it's appropriate to talk about eternal life and immortality because eternal life is exactly what they are talking about. Eternal life, according to these three people, is the immortality that is latent in every human being. your cells have a built-in immortality, according to them.
And so what happens is simply you just have to realize that you are immortal to release that immortality and then you live forever. It's wonderful. I looked at the picture of these three people and they looked around maybe late 40s and early 50s. It's a little bit early to talk about immortality yet.
I mean, if they were given another 50, 100 years and then they are talking about immortality, they might have some credibility. But at 40, 50, talking about I am immortal, it's okay, you can still some years to see how long they will live. So, I find that this was astonishing. I kept reading through this book and I thought, they are not kidding, are they?
They are not kidding. They are going through this book just talking about your cells in your body is immortal. That's amazing. I thought that if you sort of take a hammer and you whack your thumb by mistake, you kill quite a few cells.
Apparently, this doesn't deter them at all. There is a cellular immortality going on in here. Wow, what kind of amazing things go on in the world? I thought to myself, do they seriously believe this? apparently they do.
But, there is an interesting thing as I read on. They connect this cellular immortality to a kind of mutual relationship. You do not attain this cellular immortality individually by going into a cave or into a monastery and just spending the rest of your life in contemplation. Like some of the Hindu holy men, they go up in the Himalayas, you know, and they go into the caves and what they do there is they spend their whole time, they sit in the lotus position, you know, the lotus position where you cross your legs and you sit there and they meditate and some are said to be what, 500 years old or whatever.
Of course, I don't know how anyone can document that but it's alleged that some of them are quite a few hundred years old. Alright, I won't follow with that. It doesn't bother me too much one way or another. But they said this is not the way.
What this book goes on to say is that this immortality that you have in your body, your body is immortal, physical immortality, not talking about spiritual immortality, not talking about your dying and then one day being resurrected. No, it's talking about physical immortality. Remember the subtitle, an invitation to being physically immortal. So every one of you, according to these three people, are physically immortal.
How do you attain this immortality? Well, the way to do it is through interpersonal relationship. That's very interesting. interpersonal relationship means that you open yourself to another person or to other people. You open yourself to each other totally.
And then there is an interflow of energy that results in this physical immortality. Of course, it came to my mind I was thinking of some old couples 80, 90 years old have been married for as long as anyone can remember and living in wonderful harmony with one another but it didn't prevent them from getting old and dying at the end. So I was thinking, where does this theory come into effect then in this case? So their notion is that if there is a whole group of people like us here and we all open ourselves to one another and we freely release ourselves, what they are saying is that the problem with people is that we are close to one another.
You look at me and you think this guy looks a bit funny, you know, he's lopsided, his time even comes to one side because he's lopsided and well maybe his face is going to twitch and his eye is going to twinkle and he's a funny guy and I'm supposed to open myself to him and he opened myself to me and what does it mean? Well, there's no barriers we can communicate completely with one another and in this way we transmit energy from one to the other and this energy is what results in immortality you never die physically you never die how do you appreciate this? Sounds good to you? Sounds interesting to me?
I like that I like this this is better and as you read on in the book it says some interesting things it says since you are physically immortal you don't have to worry about heaven and hell anymore because you never die if you never die you never go to heaven you never go to hell so wonderful we have finished with heaven and hell we've finished with all these bible stories that is fine in the past now we are going for immortality sounds good to you not bad so what does it say they say now we are going to build heaven on earth that's the earth and then he goes on or they go on to say they are going to build and they are in the process of forming what are called immortal communities or communities of the immortal and to participate is easy you just have to be really willing to open yourself to other people no barriers no hindrances in between no chess playing between us we are totally genuine! and honest with one another it seems to me that the church has been teaching that for countless years a couple of thousand years already what's new maybe we haven't succeeded in being totally open to one another maybe they are trying to do the same thing to be open to one another so here we have a train of thought that goes like this every person is basically immortal you believe this no they said that's your problem because you have been programmed into believing that you must die if you stop believing that you must die then maybe you won't die you just got to believe that you are immortal you see some kind of faith after all you just have to believe that you will live forever that this business about dying is all fiction all nonsense nowadays you just have to believe that you have this immortality in yourself you all believe it now am I sounding very convincing to you you have this immortality in yourself sorry I found it a little bit funny this is too good to be true so now the only little problem about this wonderful story the only slight problem about this is how do you know that
# Man's Aspiration to Immortality (Part 2)
Throughout the book, nowhere is there any attempt made to prove that there is this immortality in us. Nowhere. You are simply asked to accept it. And you are simply asked to accept it on the basis that the reason why people die is because they believe they die.
And the reason why you don't die is because you believe you won't die. And it made me think of my youth. Because when I was young and physically strong and the muscles were bulging in all directions and I was fit as a fiddle as they say, I thought I was immortal. I thought I would never die.
Look at me. It's not possible to die. I feel so good. I feel on top of the world.
Have you felt like this? Every athlete has felt it. You go out in the morning to do your training and you feel, ah, super. You breathe the morning air.
You're on top of the world. And of course if you're on top of your sport as well, ah, you feel marvelous. Just marvelous. I would never die.
The problem is as time went on and the back got to ache with age and you got a pain here and a pain there and suddenly you find you got to wear glasses of all things. When I had 20, 20, perfect vision and then one day you got to wear these miserable things on your face and then you say, what's going on? Those things seem to be in decline. Is the body like an engine that wears out or does it not wear out?
That it can forever regenerate itself? Of course, according to some, it may be possible to keep to regenerating the body. That might be fine. But in practice, does it work?
Is the reason for my physical decline because I believe that I must die and therefore I decline? Which comes first? The belief in death or death first? That's interesting.
So, there I want to leave the matter for now since our time is going. It's an exciting, interesting idea. I leave with you until next Sunday. We can think about it still further.
In the meantime, you have a whole week to realize that you are immortal. You see? I hope that you're still around with us by next Sunday and that I am still around with you. Otherwise, this whole story falls apart before next Sunday.
But there are three things I would like to summarize. First is the notion of immortality. Second, and this is very important, and this is where I do agree with them on the basis of Scripture, that this immortality is related to our interrelationship. It is the bad relationship with one another that poisons our whole system.
I fully agree with that. Have you felt really angry with another person? Bitter, jealous, hatred? Have you felt that way?
You know what it's doing to your whole system? You feel terrible. It eats you up inside. It literally kills you.
Bad relationship literally kills you. Terrible to have. It turns life on earth into hell. And so, the third thing that was said there is that we can establish heaven on earth.
In a sense, that is true. In a sense, that is true. Let me say briefly what I mean by that. In Luke chapter 10, we don't need to turn to it now.
In Luke chapter 10, verse 25 onwards, there is an important passage there, which has its parallels in the other Gospels, where a lawyer asked the Lord Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? And the Lord Jesus said, you should know what it is. It's there written in the law. In being a lawyer.
A lawyer is a specialist in the Old Testament. Old Testament law. And the man said then, yes, the law is fulfilled in two things, basically. Or two aspects of one thing.
You shall love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And your neighbor at yourself. The Lord said, you said, answered rightly. Do this.
And notice what it says. You shall live. Now the whole question in Luke 10, verse 25 was, what must I do to gain eternal life? That is the question.
And notice the Lord's reply. He didn't say, believe the right doctrines and you will have eternal life. He said, this, do. Go out and do it.
Do what? Love God with all your being. And love your neighbor. Ask yourself.
You will have eternal life. Notice that the Lord related the question of eternal life to the relationship with one another. Paul condensed this point even further, in case we missed the point. That the relationship between loving God and loving the neighbor is simply two sides of the one coin.
They're not two different things, but two sides of the one coin. And that is, to love God with all one's heart is meaningless. Unless, in fact, it is put into practice in loving the neighbor. And that is why in Romans 13, 9, when speaking about the central issue of the law, Paul does not even mention the first point about loving God with one's whole being.
But merely say, love your neighbor. That is the fulfilling of the law. And in case we missed that point, he repeats the same thing. In Galatians 5, 14, in which he says, love is the fulfilling, loving the neighbor is the fulfilling of the whole law.
Again, he doesn't even mention the first point about loving God with our whole being. Because we can't easily say, yes, I love God, but I hate you. No, no, no, you can't say that. Not according to the Bible, you can't.
If you love God, you love the person. If you hate the person, you don't love God. That's what John says in 1 John. He that says he loves God but hates his neighbor is a liar.
The truth is not in him. That's why I said I like the connection. Immortality is connected to our relating to one another. And when we speak of love, what are we saying?
We are saying that we are totally open to one another. I accept you no matter what you look like. You might be losing all your hair on top of your head. That doesn't bother me.
Or you have lots of too much hair on your head. That makes me jealous. That doesn't bother me either. You may be very fat.
You may be very thin. You may be raw. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how you look.
Love unconditionally accepts the other person. No matter which way you look at that person. Now that is the important thing. The interrelationship with one another is rooted in immortality.
Now what about the third point? You can build heaven on earth. In fact, that's what we are called to do. Surprisingly.
Why? How do I say this? Well, we are called to build the kingdom of God on earth. The kingdom of heaven.
That is the reign of God on earth. That's what the Lord Jesus says in Luke 17. Where he says, The kingdom of God is among you. Don't be looking around it from here, there, everywhere.
The kingdom of God, Luke 17, verse 21, is among you. And that is where it is. That is, we are to build it. We are to pray the prayer, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed in your name, your kingdom come, which means your will be done on earth.
Isn't it our business to do his will on earth? And by doing his will on earth, we establish his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven on earth. If we could do this, the church will be a wonderful place. It will be a little piece of heaven on earth.
It is your job and mine, if we are truly Christians, to establish a little bit of heaven on earth. We can make another person happy. We can make another person joyful, encourage a person. For that person, bring heaven to that person, even just for a few minutes. an act of kindness, a smile.
How difficult it is for us to do that? And how much more permanent is that heaven that we could reconcile our differences, our squabbles, our unhappiness, unhappiness within, unhappiness without. We can bring heaven into our hearts. We can live it on earth.
I once experienced something of a fourth taste of heaven. I never forget that experience. I was in prayer that morning. And then, somehow, suddenly, heaven came down.
I can't describe that unusual experience. It was so unique. that somehow, I was aware of everything around me, and yet, I was aware of heaven being around me as well. Very remarkable experience. You see, it's God's presence that makes heaven real.
And yet, this experience lasted for about two and a half to three hours. And because I had to go to an appointment that day, at noontime, and I was walking out, finally, after about two hours to the place of appointment, even walking along the road, I sensed heaven. It was the most remarkable experience. As though heaven was following me, where I was going.
It was just around me, all the way. And this experience did not stop until I actually entered the house where that meeting was taking place. and then, there was a remarkable power present, which resulted in one of the persons present coming to the Lord that very day, without really any effort on my part at all. So, our task is indeed to bring this experience of heaven on earth. This is the remarkable thing.
So let me summarize. Here in this passage in Luke chapter 10, there is the question about eternal life. what must I do to be immortal? The Lord Jesus says, you see it in the law. The law already told you.
What is it? Love God, love your neighbor. Loving God is to be practiced in loving the neighbor. We open ourselves.
We give ourselves totally to one another. And by that means comes the third step. We establish something of heaven on earth. That is a wonderful program that we have to fulfill.
To fulfill. That is what true Christianity is about. But this book was trying to produce an imitation of the same thing that is seen here in Luke 10, Luke chapter 10 verse 25 onwards. Because they wanted to cut God out.
The book tells us that since we are immortal, we don't need God. And even more astonishing, it goes on to say, I am God. I am immortal. God is immortal.
I am immortal. Therefore, I am God. I had to sort of blink my eyes to see that I was reading correctly. And those were the exact words that I am quoting there.
I am God. Written by that writer there. Astonishing. Even though I am immortal, that doesn't make me God.
Even if I live forever, I have that eternal life as a gift. But they want to get away, get God out of the picture and want to form a society where it's good that they want to be open to one another. But I don't see it going to work, did it? And they have been around too short to prove that this is going to be workable.
But we have in scripture the same truth but made possible by the power of the living God. Our time is gone and we should have walked away 20 minutes ago and so we will close here for today. The Lord willing will come to you again next week. Let's close in front.
Amen.